Vienna, Austria - Week 1 (29 April to 5 May)

  Vienna, Austria
Tuesday, April 29, 2008

28 April 2008
We met Juha and Katterina Lukka at the meeting and they arranged for us to visit the Finland Branch Office of Jehovah's Witnesses ('Bethel'). The Finland Branch prints full colour magazines for Finland, Russia and several African countries. There are approx. 150 volunteers at Bethel and a translation team. We had lunch at Bethel and then went back to Juha and Katterina's room for coffee and chocolate eggs - (real hens eggs with the yoke and white extracted and replaced with chocolate!). The Finns love chocolate and all kinds of liquorice - salty and sweet. They know how to make it well too. 
Apparently the sea in Helsinki Harbour freezes over every winter and snow covers the city. This year was the first time in living history that it didn't happen and they only had about two days of light snow.  Global warming in action methinks.
Juha said it was good that we were clearing out of Helsinki prior to Mayday (1st May) which has become a day of drunkenness and loutish behaviour. 

29 April 2008
We flew out today on Finnair from Helsinki to Vienna. It's a beautiful sunny day. Once again the Finnair staff were helpful and professional. Our flight took us over Warsaw (Poland) and Prague (Czech Republic). We managed to get 6 seats between us which made it very comfortable.
Vienna is a magnificent city. It was very easy to get the Airport bus to the city - Westbahnhof in our case - (tickets are available from the bus driver or in the airport €6 for adults and €3 for kinder) We've only seen a tiny bit of the city so far but seems to live up to its reputation of being a classy and sophisticated city. Despite that it is far less expensive than Helsinki . Helsinki is the most expensive place we've ever been - makes Paris seem cheap!

30 April 2008
Waking up in Vienna is an amazing experience. We're staying in Kandlegasse St. in a Pension (family owned guesthouse) which is small but very well run and clean - excellent service and nice breakfast. The dining room is typically Viennese.

Our Dining Room

  It has a very quaint lift with a seat for the long journey (one floor in our case).

Stephansplatz
1st May (May Day) is a big deal in Europe and today is a Public Holiday. Despite that trains, buses and trams run all over the city and the most you'll ever wait is a couple of minutes. We took the U-Bahn (Subway) to Stephansplatz, practically the centre of Wien (Vienna).

Ryan Street

We were met - upon exiting the subway - by the imposing Romanesque / Gothic cathedral Stephansdom (St. Stephen's). Like many cathedrals in Europe it is massive and has a long history.

Stained Glass

The first church was consecrated on the site in 1147AD and throughout the centuries has been renovated, restored and rebuilt.

Stephansdom

As recently as 1947 the roof caught fire and collapsed. Even today its tallest spire is being restored.

Stephansdom

Stephansplatz is a popular area for shopping and drinking coffee and you can also (for the princely sum of $100) take a horse and carriage ride around the city for half and hour - maybe another day!

Bree and Carriage

Volksprater
The Volksprater ('people's park')  has been renowned as a place of natural beauty since the 1400's. It covers 3,200h and is home to an amusement park, sporting facilities and concerts. In 1791 Blanchard's first hot air balloon rose into the sky. We took a little train around part of the park and will come back another day.

Riesenrad (Giant Ferris Wheel)
Ryan and Bree went on some of the rides in the amusement park at Volksprater (dodgem cars, roller coaster etc...) but the piece de resistance is the Riesenrad (Giant Ferris Wheel) built in 1897 by a British engineer Walter B. Besset. It was destroyed in 1944 during allied bombing and rebuilt sympathetically. It provides a great view of the city and surrounds and is a landmark in the centre of the city.

1 May 2008
May Day - big deal in Europe where it is a public holiday. We moved into our new apartment today in a lane (Gasse) named Anschutzgasse near Schonbrunn Schloss (literally 'beautiful fountain palace' in honour of its massive fountain) and met our landlords Dagmar and Thomas who were very helpful and accommodating. We joined them for lunch at the Wiener Wald (Vienna Wood) restaurant and had a Putenschnitzel meal (chicken schnitzel and potatoes). Many of the names of food and drinks are still a mystery to us and thankfully Dagmar was able to translate. An excellent meal and good company. They advised Ryan that he can drink beer at 16 in public and ride a moped at 15 so he's keen to stay!

Ryan Discovers Beer

2 May 2008
Bethel Vienna
Today, we visited the Austria headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses (Zeugen Jehova). We got there too late for lunch unfortunately.

Beautiful grounds and only 32 residents. It's in a nice location on the edge of the Wienerwald (Vienna Woods). There is no printing plant here as all the printing is now done in the Selters Germany Branch.

3 May 2008
Shopping for Internet access - Westbahnhoff
It is surprisingly difficult to get mobile wireless Internet access in Vienna. However, we found that Yesss has just been introduced in Europe. This provides 1Mb broadband access which works well. Only available from Hofer stores (called Aldi back home). We'll try to get hold of one.
Westbahnhof is the central transport interchange in Vienna and has plenty of stores, cafes and restaurants. From here you can get a train, tram or bus to anywhere in Vienna or Austria. We found the Koo cafe which has free broadband access.

4 May 2008
Meeting with English congregation in Vienna
We tried to go to the English meeting in Vienna but it looks like they were having a convention elsewhere. We'll try this week.

5 May 2008
Magistrate and registration
To be able to stay in Austria we need to apply for residence. To do so we need to find the Magistraten (magistrate's office) and fill out some forms. We eventually found the office near Westbahnhoff.